General Awareness

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - March 2016

Mar 2016

Feb 19, 2020

Pakistan Response to FATF Remains Silent

The UN Security Council 1267 Committee may have designated mafia don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar as a global terrorist in November 2003, and also mentioned his location as Karachi, and his last issued passport as Pakistani in 2010, but there is no reference to the main accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts in the Pakistani response to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) that is being discussed in the body's ongoing plenary meeting in Paris, where one of the key decisions to be made is whether to keep the country on the "grey list".
Pakistan has submitted a detailed reply to the body which was set up to counterterror financing and money laundering, claiming it has now successfully implemented 14 of the 27 action points laid down by FATF, and that it has partly implemented 11 more, but senior officials familiar with the country's submission say that its report does not mention Ibrahim, who, according to the UN, has links to al Qaeda. "There is no reference to Dawood anywhere in Pakistan's reply to FATF as it tries to get out of the grey list with the help of China," said one of the officials who asked not to be identified. A decision by FATF is expected on Friday.

Ghani Named Afghan Election Winner

President Ashraf Ghani was declared the winner of Afghanistan's presidential vote after five months of delayed results and bitter dispute. But the announcement threatened to tip the country into a full-blown political crisis on the cusp of a U.S. peace deal with the Taliban.
Just hours after the announcement, Mr. Ghani's leading challenger, Abdullah Abdullah — who accuses Afghanistan's election commission of favoring the incumbent — also declared himself the winner and said he would form a government of his own.

US Sanctions Rosneft Unit for Maintaining Ties to Venezuelan Oil Trade

The US sanctioned a unit of Russia's largest oil producer, Rosneft PJSC, for maintaining ties with Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro and state-run oil company PDVSA.
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control is acting against Rosneft Trading SA, the company's Swiss-incorporated brokerage firm, as well as its Chairman Didier Casimiro. The US restrictions come with a three-month wind-down period that expires May 20.
The move represents the latest escalation in the Trump administration's campaign to oust Maduro and rally international support behind Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido. For the oil market, it means disruption and increased legal costs for companies, though the wind-down period gives operators time to adjust to the new regime.

UK Gets Ready for New Points-based Visa System

Home Secretary Priti Patel announced the launch of the UK's new points-based visa system, aimed at attracting the brightest and the best from the world, including from India, and cutting down numbers of cheap, low-skilled workers coming to the country.
The new system will come into force from January 1, 2021 at the end of the transition period after the UK's exit from the European Union (EU) last month, which will formally end free movement of people within the economic bloc for the UK as a non-member.
The new post-Brexit system, which will apply equally to the EU and non-EU countries like India, is based on assigning points for specific skills, qualifications, salaries and professions, with visas only awarded to those who gain enough points.

Feb 18, 2020

UK Must be Able to Set its Own Laws

As per PM's chief Brexit negotiator, the UK must have the ability to set laws that suit us.
David Frost has set out the UK's stance ahead of post-Brexit trade negotiations, due to start next month.
He dismissed the idea an EU court would have a role in future trade disputes.
It comes as France warns Britain to expect a bruising battle during talks.
Acting Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: "Boris Johnson should listen to the views of British businesses who want to maintain the closest possible alignment with the European Union."

Trump Calls for Russia to Stop Backing Syrian Atrocities

President Donald Trump called for Russia to end its support for the Syrian regime's atrocities as he expressed US concern over violence in the Idlib region.
In a call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump expressed concern over the violence in Idlib, Syria and conveyed the United States' desire to see an end to Russia's support for the Assad regime's atrocities. President Bashar al-Assad's forces made new gains in their offensive against the last major rebel bastion in the northwest region of Idlib.
Backed by Russian air strikes, Syrian government forces have kept up the assault in Idlib and areas of neighbouring Aleppo and Latakia provinces since December 2019.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, after clashes and air strikes, regime forces were in control of all the villages and small towns around Aleppo for the first time since 2012.
As per the United Nations, the Russian-backed offensive has triggered the largest wave of displacement in Syria's civil war, with 800,000 people fleeing since December 2019.

Tunisia Stalemate Risks Forcing New Election

The President of Tunisia, Kais Saied, has said that he will dissolve parliament and call early elections if the new government line-up fails to win a parliamentary vote of confidence.
The Prime Minister-designate, Elyes Fakhfakh, presented his new cabinet but the biggest bloc in parliament, the Islamist Ennahda Party, rejected it.
Mr. Fakhfakh has a deadline to form a cabinet and avoid his predecessor's fate.
Mr. Habib Jemli, who was nominated by Ennahda, failed to get his cabinet endorsed by parliament.
The new government will have the mammoth task of reviving the economy and fixing the high unemployment problem.
President Saied has called the stalemate Tunisia's worst political crisis since independence in 1956.

UAE Issues Operating Licence for Arab World's First Nuclear Plant

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) issued an operating licence for the first reactor at the Arab world's first nuclear power plant, paving the way for it to start production later this year.
The Barakah nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi, which is being built by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), was originally due to open in 2017 but the start-up of its first reactor has been delayed several times.

EU Agrees New Patrols to Stop Arms Flow

EU states have agreed to launch a new military mission off the Libyan coast to enforce a shaky UN arms embargo.
The 27 governments still have to draft a legal text for the mission, after agreeing it in principle in Brussels.
The main objective is the arms embargo.
The UN-recognised government in Tripoli is under attack from the forces of Gen. Khalifa Haftar, which control most of eastern and southern Libya.
The EU's new naval and air mission is to operate in the eastern Mediterranean, away from the migrant-smuggling routes from Libya which have caused bitter divisions in the EU.
Italy's Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said that if the EU ships proved to be a pull factor for migrants desperate to reach Europe the mission will be stopped.

Pak. Mission Issues Visas to Hindu Pilgrims to Visit Katas Raj Temples

The Pakistan High Commission issued visas to a group of Hindu pilgrims to visit Shree Katas Raj temples in Punjab province's Chakwal district.
The group is planning to visit Shree Katas Raj temples, also known as Qila Katas or complex of Katas temples, from February 19 to 25, the Pakistan High Commission said in a statement.
Katas Raj temples surround a pond which is considered sacred by the Hindus, it said.
A group of 88 Indian Hindu devotees had also visited Shree Katas Raj temples in 2019 from December 13 to 19.

Khan Claims Refugee Crisis Likely over Kashmir

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan claimed that Pakistan may face another refugee crisis if the international community failed to take notice of the current situation in India.
India's "ultranationalist ideology going unchecked could lead to destruction and the region could become a flashpoint", he said at a conference marking 40 years of hosting Afghan refugees in his country, attended by visiting UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Khan said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks that India can destroy Pakistan in 11 days are not a responsible statement by a premier of a nuclear state with a huge population. He insisted that Pakistan is no longer a militant safe haven, and said his administration fully supports the Afghan peace process.

Feb 17, 2020

Sri Lanka Calls on US to Reconsider Barring Army Chief

Sri Lanka said that the US should reconsider its decision to refuse entry to the island's army chief over his alleged war crimes and warned that relations were being unnecessarily complicated.
The US had said that said the travel ban for Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva and his family was imposed over what it called credible evidence of human rights violations in the 2009 finale to the civil war.
US ambassador Alaina Teplitz was summoned by Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.
Teplitz said that the US would continue its cooperation with Sri Lanka, including in defence, despite the ban on Silva.

France Reports First Fatality in Europe

French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn reported the first death from COVID-19 in Europe.
The victim, an 80-year-old Chinese tourist, and his daughter had been receiving treatment at Paris's Bichat hospital since January 25 and were subject to strict isolation measures.
The daughter's health is not a cause for concern and she should be able to leave hospital soon, added the minister. Both individuals were from Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak.
World Health Organization (WHO) emergency chief Mike Ryan said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference that the virus is still not spreading fast internationally.
The virus has been outside China now for a number of weeks and we still have only got just over 500 cases in 24 countries"
Only three deaths had been recorded from the virus outside of China — in the Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan. France has 11 cases of the virus.

Rockets Hit U.S. Coalition Base in Baghdad

In the latest attack to target U.S. facilities in Iraq, rockets hit a U.S.-led military coalition's Baghdad headquarters but caused no casualties.
Washington has blamed Iran-backed paramilitary groups for increasingly regular rocketing and shelling of bases hosting U.S. forces in Iraq and of the area around the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
An attack last month hit the U.S. Embassy compound itself, and a rocket attack on a military base in the north in December killed a U.S. civilian contractor.
There have been no claims for the attacks.
Tension between Iran and the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has mostly played out on Iraqi soil in recent months.
The United States killed top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a drone strike in Baghdad last month, after which the region braced for full-scale conflict. Iran launched its first direct missile attack on two bases hosting U.S. forces in response.

Feb 16, 2020

French Oscars Board Quits for Nominating Polanski for Awards

The entire board of the Cesar Academy, which awards France's equivalent of the Oscars, resigned just two weeks ahead of its gala ceremony after more than 200 actors, producers, directors and movie personalities demanded "profound reform".
The academy had come under fire after Roman Polanski's new film An Officer and a Spy topped the list of nominations for this year's Cesar awards, which will be handed out on February 28.
Polanski has been wanted in the US for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl since 1978.

U.S. and Taliban Reach Afghanistan Truce Agreement

As per a senior U.S. official, the United States and the Taliban have reached a truce agreement that will take effect very soon and could lead to withdrawals of American troops from Afghanistan.
The official said that the agreement for a seven-day reduction in violence to be followed by the start of all-Afghan peace talks within 10 days is very specific and covers the entire country, including Afghan government forces. There were indications a formal announcement could come as early as the weekend.
The official said that the Taliban had committed to a halt in roadside and suicide bombings as well as rocket attacks. The official said the United States would monitor the truce and determine if there were any violations.

U.S. Blacklists Sri Lankan Army Chief

The United States has blacklisted Sri Lanka's Army Chief, Shavendra Silva, for human rights violations including extrajudicial killings during the last phase of the country's civil war in 2009.
Mr. Pompeo said that the allegations of gross human rights violations against Shavendra Silva, documented by the United Nations and other organisations, are serious and credible.
The sanctions imposed on February 14 by Washington bar Lt. Gen. Silva and his family members from entering the United States.
Lt. Gen. Silva's appointment as Army commander in August 2019 drew sharp criticism from the United States and the United Nations.
Lt. Gen. Silva is credited with leading an Army division against Tamil Tiger rebels in the final phases of the island nation's 26-year-long brutal civil war, which ended in 2009.

IMF Asks Pakistan to Reduce Trade and Commerce Reliance on China

The visiting IMF mission asked Islamabad to reduce its trade and commerce reliance on Beijing and look for other international options by signing free trade agreements (FTA) with other countries too.
The development comes as the mission has extended its stay in Pakistan for making more efforts to strike a consensus on the staff-level agreement as both sides so far persisted with their respective differences on immediate measures for reducing the revenue-expenditure gap and fixing cash bleeding energy sector.

Feb 15, 2020

Trump to Stop Officials from Listening to His Overseas Calls

US President Donald Trump has said that he may discontinue the practice of officials listening in on his phone calls with foreign leaders, after he was impeached for one of them.
Democrat-led House of Representatives initiated an impeachment inquiry against Trump last September based on concerns raised by a whistle-blower who had reported being concerned about what the person had heard about the US president's phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25.

Turkey to Oppose Pakistan Blacklisting at FATF Meet

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan would help Pakistan stay off a terrorism financing blacklist at a meeting of a global finance watchdog, a move he suggested would counter political pressure from Islamabad's critics.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which tackles money laundering, told Islamabad late last year that it could face blacklisting if it continued to apply inadequate controls over terrorism financing.
The FATF is meeting next week in France, and support from Turkey and longtime allies like China, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia could help Pakistan remain off the blacklist. A minimum of three votes are required for any country to escape the blacklisting.
If it joined the blacklist alongside Iran and North Korea, Islamabad would face sanctions and economic setbacks at a time when its economy is struggling with a balance of payment crisis.

US Senate Moves to Curb Trump's War Powers

The US Senate advanced legislation intended to limit President Donald Trump's ability to wage war against Iran, paving the way for a final vote. The resolution would require Trump to remove US troops engaged in hostilities against Iran unless Congress passes an authorisation for the use of military force. The vote was 51-45 on a motion to proceed to a final vote.

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